One hundred and fifty guests touched down in LA from all over the world to celebrate the marriage of Kristy and Doug on July 24, 2010. The couple, who lived in Florida during their engagement, had their work cut out for them planning an LA wedding, but they had a vision in mind and their hard work paid off! The end result was an aesthetically clean, down-to-earth, personalized celebration featuring many unique DIY projects!
Where exactly did you get married and why was that the perfect venue for you two as a couple? Our wedding was held at the Grand Kyoto Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles. We picked this venue because it provided us a beautiful space outdoors for the reception and was centrally located to various attractions for our guests. We love that your husband and groomsmen wore flip-flops. Tell us about that decision to go against tradition and chose a more comfortable shoe. My husband was totally thinking about comfort, and was his idea. It represents him (and all his groomsmen) who are all laid back. Even though our wedding wasn’t held at the beach, we also thought it looked nice with the casual suits they wore. 
In what ways were you able to personalize the wedding to be reflective of you two as a couple? The hotel is located in Little Tokyo in Downtown LA, and has a lot of Japanese elements (the décor and the outside reception was held at their Japanese gardens). This was perfect to represent my Japanese ancestry. We also had a mutual friend of ours be the DJ. He played such awesome music. He really listened to what we wanted (no cheesy Chicken Dance or the Macarena) and played hip-hop, Beatles, salsa and merengue (for my Peruvian family). My aunts also did the flower arrangements because she owned a flower shop in Peru. She did the centerpieces, bouquets, and boutonnières. 
We saw a great picture of a little sack with “love is the spice of life” written on it. Tell us about this shot. Those were our favors! We included red chili spice inside, along with two recipes. The red chili is a popular spice in New Mexico, where we started our new married life. We got the idea of the burlap sack from a wedding blog. It took a lot of friends to help with the stamping, changing ribbons, and packing the spice of chili. It looks like in lieu of a guest book, you had your guests write on something else. What was it and how did that idea come to be? We had our guests sign a wooden plank, which my husband wanted to turn into a bench (which is yet to be finished, haha!) We got the idea from a wedding blog and thought it would be cool to have that bench at our new apartment in NM. 
Any advice for brides and grooms-to-be? Our advice would be to make your decisions as a couple, and not rely on one person to do all the legwork. We heard from other couples that planning their wedding wasn’t enjoyable, and it was driving them crazy. We did have our stressful moments, but we compromised a lot on things that were important to us. Working with our limited budget, we found ways on where to skimp, like asking my aunt to do the flower arrangements, and having our friend DJ the wedding. We also agreed that we wanted to splurge on hiring an awesome photographer who would capture those special moments. 
Vendors
Photographer: Michael Andrews Photography
Venue: Kyoto Grand Hotel
Dress: Pronovias, purchased at Love Bridal
Make up: Darcy Maeda Manning
Maid of Honor Dress: David’s Bridal
Cake: King’s Hawaiian Bakery
How did you two meet? How was the planning process when it came to the wedding? 
In what ways did you personalize the wedding to be authentic to you two as a couple? 
What advice would you give to couples from two different cultures that want to incorporate elements from both cultures into their wedding? 
If there’s one thing Dayna and Mike learned from planning their October wedding it’s that when life hands you 
Why was Ocean House the perfect venue for you two? 
It looks like the party moved from the Ocean House to a bar. Can you tell us about that? We love the picture of the cute cocktail names! 
Vendors:
Casual elegance reigned at the Hyatt Lodge Oak Brook on September 18, 2010 as 180 guests joined in celebrating the union of Katie and Mike. As the Grand Oaks Pavilion room looked out into a forest, bringing outdoor elements inside became a theme the couple achieved through a lush color palate of purples and greens with accents of pink. Rich eggplant linens and fruitwood chivari chairs complimented the color palate, and oak tree branch tabletop décor gave the reception room an effortless, natural finish. Unexpected weather and last minute changes didn’t deter this couple from enjoying every aspect of their big day which just goes to show you that often times things just fall perfectly into place, as if they were meant to be.
Notes from the bride:
I had dreamed of my wedding since I was young, so I took the reigns on a lot of the planning. Mike had a lot of input, but I think he soon realized that he should pretty much agree with me and no one gets hurt! I also changed my mind a lot during the planning process! We started out having light pink, white and green as our colors and two weeks before the wedding, they ended up dark pinks, purples, and greens. I started out wanting nothing put peonies, but soon wised up when every florist told me they don’t exist in September. It just goes to show you that what you initially think the wedding will look like isn’t necessarily what it ends up as!
I have dreamed about my wedding dress since I was 10! I literally bought bridal magazines at the bookstore since I was 16 years old to look at dresses. My dress was in my top three most important aspects of the wedding (next to venue and photographer). I went to my first appointment wanting a huge, poofy ballgown and quickly learned that what I thought I wanted wasn’t what looked good on me. Our third stop was Vwindon, a husband and wife local design team. My “entourage” of maid of honor, mom and aunt picked out a dress that I would never have given a second thought to. I only tried it on “to get it over with” before trying on my own choices. I came out of the dressing room in tears and knew it was the one.
Advice for brides-to-be?
As far as the bride and groom serving the soup to their guests? Typically, the newly married couple are the very first people to be served dinner at a celebration. However, Andrew and I wanted to make a statement about our faith and how that has shaped our perspective on life. Jesus was a man who put others before himself, and we thought by serving our guests in this small (but fun!) way, we could illustrate the character of this man who inspires our every day. Plus, it ended up as great alternative to the traditional receiving line, and I got to make a fool of myself! The soup didn’t always make it into the bread bowl…
What were the most important aspects when it came to planning your wedding?
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